Cole County reports 3 positive cases in last 2 weeks

Three positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Cole County during the last two weeks.

Of the 54 total cases reported in the county since March, three remain active and 50 have recovered; one Cole County patient has died.

"Two of the latest cases were people who have contracted the virus through close contact with a person who had tested positive within the county," Cole County Communicable Disease Health Coordinator Chezney Schulte said Monday. "In the third case we were unable to determine if the person contracted the virus through close contact or through travel so we classified it as contracted through community spread."

Health officials believe Cole County could see a jump in cases during the next two weeks since the county's stay-at-home order expired April 25 and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson's reopening of the state started May 4, Schulte said.

"You had events like Cinco De Mayo and Mother's Day occurring, which brought people out," she said.

In conversations with residents, Schulte said, Cole County health officials mostly hear about concerns of whether the social-distancing requirements are being met.

"Many businesses have contacted us about wanting recommendations on how they can meet the requirements for them to reopen," Schulte said. "Education is the biggest thing we're going to be dealing with as we move forward to understand and address the concerns of our residents."

The Cole County Health Department has published guidance for many types of businesses on its website, colehealth.org.

Jefferson City's two COVID-19 testing sites have acquired more than 3,100 samples to send off to labs for analysis, as of Monday.

Capital Region Medical Center has collected 1,969 samples from people for COVID-19 tests - 268 since last week - Director of Marketing Lindsay Huhman said. Of those, 100 have come back positive and 10 are pending.

The St. Mary's Hospital site has collected samples from 1,150 patients for possible COVID-19 infection - 243 since last week - and sent them to labs. Of those, 68 have come back positive and 19 were pending.

Physicians' orders are required to receive COVID-19 tests.

Positive cases are reported to the counties where the tested patients live.